Delancey Park

A Neolithic grave in Guernsey could be half-buried in soil and grassed-over to preserve it.

Guernsey Museums and Art Galleries has asked for planning permission to conduct the work in Delancey Park and put up an information sign.

States Archaeologist Dr Philip de Jersey said covering part of the stones would hopefully protect them.

He said: “People have lit fires in between them so they crack... there’s been graffiti... we want to stop that.”

The grave was discovered and excavated in 1919, 1932 and in the summers from 2009-2011.

States Archaeologist Dr Philip de Jersey said covering part of the stones would hopefully protect them.

Dr de Jersey said the “gallery” grave was “the only known example in Guernsey”.

He said other Neolithic graves in the island tended to be passage graves with a wider chamber.

Part of it is having better interpretation so people actually know what they’re are looking at”

Dr de Jersey said damage to the site was mainly believed to have been caused by people.

“We don’t get a huge amount of frost here and there is what looks like some frost shattering on a couple of the pieces of granite so it [covering the site] might help stop that as well, but the main problems have been human,” he said.

“The absolute last resort is fencing the site off... so I hope this will be a compromise, that people can still see it, but it will prevent damage.”

Dr de Jersey said of the site currently: “It’s collapsed, the capstones have long since vanished and what we have now are just the prop stones along each side, which have all fallen over in the past few thousand years.

“It’s not a great deal to look at, it is a heap of stones and if you don’t know anything about it you’re none the wiser.”

Archaeologist Dr George Nash, who led the most recent work, recommended the site should be enhanced and marked as one of educational value.

Dr de Jersey said: “There’s not really anything more archaeological we can get out of it.

“[The plan is to] effectively partially rebury the site, it won’t be completely covered you’ll still be able to see the top foot or so of the stones.

“The idea is that you can walk around it, you can still walk on the stones, but they’ll be that much more protected.

“Part of it is protecting the site, but leaving it still visible and part of it is having better interpretation so people actually know what they’re are looking at.”

He said the plans were put forward with the support of the Admiral de Saumarez Trust, which is behind moves to upgrade and refresh the park and has offered to pay for materials.

Dr de Jersey said the plans involved “a layer of something inert like sand or gravel, which marks where previous excavations have got to, and then we’ll put topsoil on top and fence it off to let the grass seed grow”.

If the plans are approved work, which should only take a few days, is expected to start in March or April.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-21211846

Plans to conserve a Neolithic site in Guernsey have been submitted to the Admiral de Saumarez Trust and the Guernsey Museums service.

Archaeologist Dr George Nash produced the Conservation Management Plan after carrying out fieldwork at the site between 2009 and 2011.

He said the Neolithic gallery grave in Delancey Park had been a centre for the ancient community.

Dr Nash said it had been a settlement before the site became a grave.

He added that the excavation, funded by the trust, had revealed a complex history of the site dating back to the early Neolithic period, some 5,500 years ago.

Dr Nash said the beads from eastern Europe dated back to about 1,500 BC
Dr Nash said the plan he submitted was a long-term strategy looking at the strengths, weaknesses and threats to the site and how they could be acted upon.

He said: “I’ve suggested we do certain things to enhance it, to make it more of an educational facility, but more importantly make it a marker within the park that people can respect, look at and gain some knowledge from.”

Dr Nash said they found “some very nice pieces of flint, but our piece de resistance, so to speak, was the discovery of three very, very small blue glass beads, which probably date to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, which is the next period along in the prehistoric sequence.

“It tells us there were local groups probably using the sea as their main source of economics, because of where the site is located, but it also tells something very important – that they were importing stuff from far and wide.”

bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-16945795

A Guernsey park could be home to artefacts dating back to the Stone Age, according to a Bristol University archaeologist.

Dr George Nash has asked the States for permission to excavate an area of Delancey Park in St Sampson.

Dr Nash has already carried out some test digs in the area and believes a Neolithic gallery grave, with some intact artefacts, is located there.

If permission is given, work should start in June.

Dr Nash will work with the archaeology officer for Guernsey Museums, Phillip de Jersey, on the dig.

Mr de Jersey said: “The stone used to be upright, forming what is called a gallery grave.

“It is quite a rare type of Neolithic monument in the Channel Islands – there’s just this one on Guernsey and a couple on Jersey.

“We got a fair amount of pottery and flint from the trial pits that were dug last summer, and we’ve also got material in the museum’s stores from the excavation that took place here in 1922, so we can be fairly sure there is still material to be found.”

He said any finds would remain in the island and some could go on display in the island’s museum.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-12334385